EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a 2-part series on the Jonesboro Economical Transit System.

by george jared

JONESBORO — Rain clouds were forming on Friday, and Shirley Waller, 63, needed a ride. She doesn’t have a car, and finding someone to take her places is “impossible,” she said.

Fortunately for Waller, she can ride buses provided by the Jonesboro Economical Transit System.

“This is the best thing Jonesboro’s ever done,” Waller said as she rode the bus on Friday.

Voters will decide in November if the city will continue to put $130,000 into the program each year, interim JETS Coordinator Steve Ewart said.

JETS reports that about 9,200 riders use the bus system, including the paratransit service, each month. A sampling of ridership Friday afternoon on one of the bus routes, the Red route, supported that figure.

If the ballot initiative fails, JETS will cease to operate in less than two years, Ewart said. In 2005 the city agreed to help fund the program for five years, he said.

“It would start to phase out in 2009 and be gone by 2010,” Ewart said. The only recourse would be to raise the $130,000 annually by other means. Besides city money, JETS’ budget includes federal matching grants, state user tax money from rental cars, fares and advertising.

Complaints against the program include the limited number of routes, the money spent and the low ridership. JETS officials are working to solve these concerns, Ewart said. Additional stops have been added to some routes, and the program has been hampered after one bus was in a wreck earlier this year, he said.

The city’s bus fleet — seven are in operation right now — is among the smallest transit fleets in the nation, Ewart said. But Jonesboro is the second-largest city in Arkansas in terms of area; Jonesboro covers more than 79 square miles, with about 700 persons per square mile, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Little Rock, the state’s largest city in both population and area, covers 116 square miles but has 1,576 persons per square mile. The state’s second-largest city in population, Fort Smith, has 1,594 persons per square mile and only covers 50 square miles.

For Jonesboro, those statistics mean there’s a lot of city and not enough buses, Ewart said.

“If we had more money, we could provide more service, but that’s not the case right now,” he said.

Stimulus effect

National surveys show a strong correlation between the positive economic development of a city and improved methods of transportation, Ewart said. Data collected by the Federal Transit Administration in 2004 showed that for every $1 spent on public transit, $9 worth of economic activity is created.

Officials want to survey the Jonesboro area, but the sampling needs a little more time to mature, he said.

“It takes about three years before a survey can be accurate, so we’re getting pretty close,” Ewart said. Even a conservative version of the FTA’s model suggests that Jonesboro gets $4 million worth of economic activity from its $130,000 given to the program, Ewart said.

Another possible revenue stream might be gleaned from busing in commuters from other communities who work in Jonesboro. Officials are trying to reach an agreement with Black River Area Development Public Transit at Pocahontas, which would give workers in outlying counties transportation to their jobs in Jonesboro.

One bus line, the Gold route, is heavily used in the mornings and late afternoons but has few passengers the rest of the day, Ewart said. It might be converted into a shuttle service that works with BRAD, he said.

Ewart said the paratransit service is not cost-effective, but it’s mandated by federal law if the city is going to receive money for normal bus service.

Waller said she wasn’t familiar with the politics or ballot initiatives concerning the bus system. She just knows she needs the bus.

“I won’t have any way to get anywhere,” she said.

gjared@jonesborosun.com